Emerging Jazz Artist Showcase – Finals

We present to you the finalists of the first Hartford Jazz Society Emerging Jazz Artist Showcase. Please watch the videos below, and vote for your favorite artist. The voting will continue until the day of the last Paul Brown Monday Night Jazz concert, where we will announce the winner. The grand prize winner gets a cash award and two tickets for the Hartford Jazz Society River Cruise where they will be invited to do a solo performance between band sets. Thanks for your participation.

GB Sneed

GB Sneed Bio

Four years ago, at the age of 53, I walked into Middlesex Music Academy and said; I can’t read music or play an instrument; can you help me? They said yes and told me to practice 45 min every other day. I went home and practiced 3 hours a day, and spent an additional hour learning to read notes. I did this seven day a week for the first 2 years. Last year I began playing publicly. The attached video is my version of Ray Charles’, Hard Times.

Tony Davis

Tony Davis bio.

Tony Davis is a recent graduate in jazz performance (Guitar) from the Hartt School of Music, Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz. There he has been under the tutelage of renowned musicians such as Nat Reeves, Steve Davis, Abraham Burton, Javon Jackson, Rene McLean, Rich Goldstein, Rick Germanson, Eric McPherson, among others. Tony can be found frequently performing all over the greater Hartford area at places such as Black Eye’d Sally’s, Max Downtown and The Prospect Café. He also has had the opportunity to perform with faculty at Hartt along with other highly-respected musicians in the jazz idiom such as Larry Willis, David Williams, Mike LeDonne, Joe Farnsworth, Eric Alexander, John Lee and Harold Mabern.

Tony has teaching experience both privately and at the Artists’ Collective in Hartford, teaching guitar and the Youth Jazz Orchestra. He also is a part of the Newport Jazz Assembly, which provides concerts/masterclasses to public schools throughout RI and CT.

Samantha Feliciano

Samantha Feliciano bio.

Samantha Feliciano is a vocalist and music educator going on to her senior year at Western Connecticut State University. Throughout her time at WCSU she has gotten many opportunities to explore a range of music through classical and jazz studies. With a background in classical voice, Samantha has placed in the NATS Regional and National NATS competitions. This past year she even received both the 2017 James Furman Solo Competition Award for classical voice and the James Furman Chamber Ensemble with a jazz combo.

She has been fortunate enough to be able to study jazz voice with Atla De-Champlain as well as under musicians such as Jamie Begian, Jeff Siegel, Peter Tomlinson and many other combo coaches.This spring she was also a featured vocalist in Jimmy Greene’s Jazz Orchestra at WCSU. She continues to perform locally with her peers and enjoys learning alongside so many outstanding musicians.

She first started singing in high school in various choirs as well as in her community and she aspires to direct her own choir after college. As a performer, she is influenced by the vocal technique, improvisation and storytelling of both the late Sarah Vaughan and today’s Cecile Mclorin Salvant. Jazz in particular has inspired her to challenge herself and strive to bring people together through music.

An advocate for music education, she believes that students deserve the chance to discover music and uncover their potential to become successful musicians. Currently, Samantha teaches voice of all ages in Brookfield CT, Southbury CT and Harrison NY, and wants to share her passion for music with as many people as she can.

Mike Casey

Mike Casey Bio

Saxophonist and composer Mike Casey has been a fixture on the Hartford jazz scene and beyond since 2008, when he began attending the Greater Hartford Academy for the Performing Arts. Upon his graduation, he went on to attend and graduate in 2015 from the acclaimed Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz housed at University of Harford’s Hartt School. In 2015, Casey was one of 24 young composers worldwide chosen to participate in the prestigious Betty Carter Jazz Ahead Program at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC led by Jason Moran. His resume includes Charles Tolliver, DJ Logic, Nat Reeves, Benito Gonzalez, Brandee Younger, Zaccai Curtis, Tarus Mateen, Duane Eubanks, and Marc Cary, whose project “The Harlem Sessions” features Casey as an original member. With Cary, he has performed at NYC’s Winter Jazz Fest, Lincoln Center, Summerstage, and Cape May’s Exit Zero Jazz Festival.Since selling out his NYC debut as a leader at the legendary Minton’s in September 2016, Casey released his debut album ‘The Sound of Surprise: Live at The Side Door’ in February 2017 to international airplay, critical acclaim, and sales, with coverage from the likes of NPR, WBGO, Live for Live Music, JAY Z’s TIDAL, Quincy Jones, Jazz in Europe, and nearly every major Connecticut publication including The Hartford Courant, Connecticut Magazine, The Day, The New Haven Register, and more.